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Friday, October 2, 2015

State of the Heart - South Caroline Writers on the Places They Love

Idgie Says:USC Press first released a compilation of stories by SC authors in 2013. These stories tell of the places they grew up in, or grew to love as adults. Not only sharing part of the author's heart and soul, but also sharing the beauty of South Carolina with us.Now in 2015 we have Volume 2. Look at the great list of authors that are involved in this project! I have both volumes shown below, check them out!

State of the HeartSouth Carolina Writers on the Places They Love, Volume 2

South Carolina is a state of inspiration as well as
recreation. Through its natural beauty, storied heritage, and curious
character, the Palmetto State finds its way into the hearts and
imaginations of every native, resident, and guest to set foot on its
thirty-two thousand square miles of soil. Continuing the format of the
popular original, this second volume of State of the Heart: South Carolina Writers on the Places They Love
celebrates and commemorates the connections that the accomplished
contributors have found in the well-known and far-flung locations most
dear to them. With companionable charm and storytellers' spirits, editor
Aïda Rogers and the thirty-eight contributors invite you to amble
across South Carolina with them for a chance to see the state as they
have come to know it.

For writers beloved places can captivate, teach, comfort,
and occasionally haunt. In this collection contributors reflect on
their hometowns, the rivers and roads that marked their lives' journeys,
and the maligned neighborhoods they transformed just by living and
working in them. Family beach vacations, churches and churchyards,
athletic arenas modest and grand, a mountain vista, a quiet pond, a city
park, an old-time produce market, Lake Murray, Brookgreen Gardens—these
are just a sampling of the nearly three dozen private and public places
favored by this diverse group of writers of fiction, memoir, poetry,
history, journalism, and more. Photographs, artwork, verse, and even a
few recipes accompany the essays, bringing readers further into sharing
the writers' experiences.

While State of the Heart is rooted in the
landscape of South Carolina, readers from anywhere will relate to its
universal themes of growing up and growing old, recognition of past
mistakes, returned-to faith, the closeness of family and friends,
honoring those who came before, and setting our collective sights on the
promise of the future for cherished people and places.

Marjory Wentworth, South Carolina's poet laureate,
provides the foreword to this collection, which includes her poem "One
River, One Boat."

A collection of heartfelt recollections of place from a pantheon of Palmetto State writers

In State of the Heart, Aïda Rogers has crafted
an artful love letter to our state, with contributions from a host of
nationally and regionally recognized writers who have written short
essays on the South Carolina places that they cherish. This anthology
provides a multifaceted historical and personal view of the Palmetto
State.

Thematically organized, this collection offers a
geographic and emotional scope that is as diverse as its contributors.
Sportswriters describe beloved arenas; historians reflect on church
ruins and forts. A playwright recalls the magic of her first theater
experience; a food writer revels in a coastal joint that serves fresh
oysters. Backyards, front porches, a small library at a children's home,
the Savannah River Site, and places that are gone except in the
memories of the writers who loved them—these are just a few of the
locales covered, all showing how South Carolina has changed and inspired
people in a variety of ways.

State of the Heart evokes a sense of history and
timelessness by bringing together heartfelt responses to South Carolina
rooted in memory, drawing on reflection, inspiration, and love. The
anthology reveals a state that is more than a playground for tourists;
it is a state of human hiding places that echo in the hearts of its
literary citizens. Though presented as a book about place, the
collection is ultimately about our shared connections to one another, to
a complex common past, and to ongoing efforts to frame and build a
future of promise and possibility.

____________________________________

Aïda Rogers is a writer and
editor whose feature journalism has won national and regional awards.
She has worked in newspapers, television, and magazines. Rogers is the
editor of State of the Heart: South Carolina Writers on the Places They Love, coeditor of Writing South Carolina: Selections from the First Annual High School Writing Contest, and coauthor of Stop Where the Parking Lot's Full,
a guide to some of South Carolina's most beloved restaurants. She holds
a B.A. degree in journalism from the University of South Carolina and
lives in Columbia.

The day "Claire" from Lost mentioned me!

Pat Says:

Pat Conroy just told me that I take a foul art and give it a queenly air, then he kissed my hand.

Decatur Book Festival, 2014

Books that "Stuck"

In no particular order: Bill Bryson and James Herriot....I have re-read anything they write multiple times.We're All DamagedThe End of the World Running ClubHandmaid's Tale Watership DownRiversDesperation RoadBull Mountain The Stand The Poisonwood Bible Black Beauty The Road... read once, will never read again, but it stuck. Lonesome Dove Gone With The Wind....of course Earth Abides A Brave New World

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Idgie

“She is too fond of books, and it has turned her brain.” —Louisa May Alcott